Express News Service
KOLKATA: If you are a member of the West Bengal BJP and have contacts with fellow politicians across party lines, your loyalty henceforth will be suspect. For, the party’s disciplinary action committee has just decreed that no BJP worker can have a party foe in his or her Facebook friends list. Also, ‘liking’ anti-BJP social media post is a strict no-no. A show-cause notice will be slapped if you dare to violate the fiat.
The bizarre diktat comes as the party is at its wit’s end, trying to stem indiscipline in its ranks, with a section of leaders pouring out their anguish at the BJP’s poor performance in the recent Assembly elections on social media.
“Not just district functionaries, some state-level leaders, too, expressed displeasure with the party’s central leadership and held it responsible for the electoral loss through their social media accounts, especially Facebook,” said a senior BJP leader in Kolkata.
The disciplinary action committee’s latest fiat left party workers astounded. “The diktat asking functionaries to remove anti-BJP people from their friends’ list is astounding. We have many friends whose political affiliation is different,’’ said an unhappy BJP leader.
“The committee warned that other than serving show-cause notice, strict action could be taken against those who defy discipline, he shared. A three-member disciplinary action committee was set up on June 8 to control growing discontent within the party. It is headed by Lok Sabha member Subhas Sarkar.
IT cell to keep watchAccording to party sources, the job of keeping an eye on functionaries will fall on the shoulders of West Bengal BJP’s IT unit. It will pick out party workers randomly and peer through their Facebook profiles for signs of disloyalty